Rubber glove



Jan. 22, 1935. F. E. BARNS RUBBER GLOVE Filed March 24,

I 1w gm or. F m/ME 134 Patented Jan. 22, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE 7 Claims.

The invention relates to improvements in rubber gloves and more particularly to a dipped electricians glove.

An object of the invention is to provide a novel electricians glove .for commercial and household use with a reinforced wrist portion.

Another object is to provide an electricians glove with means to increase the physical strength where most necessary.

Another object is to provide a glove of the character referred to with means to increase the serviceable life of such glove.

Another object is to provide a glove of the character referred to with such reinforcement as will increase the serviceable life and strength thereof without increasing the bulk to such an extent as to renderits use objectionable.

The foregoing and such other objects of the invention as will appear hereinafter as the description proceeds will be more readily understood upon perusal of the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the form shown with a glove partially completed thereon.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the form with the finger and hand portions of the partially formed glove illustrated in Fig. 1 re moved.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the completed glove before removal from the form, the glove being partially broken away.

Fig. 4 is. a fragmentary side elevational view of the completed glove. Gloves of the general character embodied herein are made of the highest grade of rubber because their principal use is by electricians while working on high tension electrical equipment, such as power lines, etc., and necessarily must be non-porous and free from defects. To accomplish this end they preferably are formed seamless by successively dipping a form, upon which they are being built up, into a fluid mixture of rubber and naphtha. Following each dipping the compound adhering to the form is allowed to dry, by the evaporation of the naphtha, so that a sticky substantially solid coating remains. This successive dipping and drying process is repeated until approximately 24 dippings have been made after which time the glove produced is removed from the form and cured. This resulting glove is seamless, has walls of uniform thickness, and must have an electrical strength of 10,000 volts before being acceptable for service.

When in use the workman places a leather glove thereover to prevent damaging the rubber glove but because of the comparative shortness of the work glove with the rubber. safety glove, the wrist or sleeve portions of the safety glove is unprotectedand often is scratched, cut or torn. Such injury .renders the glove unfit for further safe service because it will now have weak spots which will be less thanthe required di-electrical strength of 10,000 volts. Should such an injured glove be used the wearer is unprotected and serious injury or death may result. Hence, ithas become a fixed-policy to -i'equire periodic tests to ascertain the di electrical strength of all gloves in service with the result that many gloves are discarded at-great loss when only slightly scratched or out even though the remaining portions are unworn. "They cannot be repaired.

To overcome this great loss through condemnation and insure greater safety to the user, the improved glovehas been developed which materially increases the serviceable life of the glove and renders it less=liable to injury. As shown in the accompanying drawings. mold or form 11, preferably of porcelain, --is suspended from a suitable rack (not shown) over a vat containing a compound of high grade rubber and 'nap'htha.- The form 11 is dipped into this compound and upon withdrawal contains a film of said compound-which forms a sticky mass when the naphtha has evaporated. This dipping and drying continues until 12 layers of rubber or rubber compound have gathered on the form, producing a glove 12 (Fig. 1) which constitutes the start for further operations. The form 11 with the glove 12 then is partly immersed in a suitable solution which dissolves the rubber immersed in said liquid leaving but the wrist portion 13 (Fig. 2) thereon.

The form and the wrist portion 13 then are repeatedly dipped into and withdrawn from the rubber-naphtha compound until the complete glove is again formed on the mold. It is preferable that this second series of dippings amount to 24 in number, thus it will be noted (Fig. 3) that the hand portion 14 andthe finger portions 15 of the glove produced will consist of 24 layers and the completed wrist portion 13a will consist of 36 layers. Hence if the hand and finger portions test 10,000 volts the wrist portion (if free from defects) will test considerably more, therefore, said wrist portion may become slightly out or scratched without producing a dangerous weak spot or one that will not withstand the 10,000 volt test. Also the wrist portion being heavy is less likely to tear hence the serviceable life of the improved reinforced glove is lengthened and the loss by injury and subsequent condemnation is reduced. The increased safety afforded the workman more than compensates the slightly increased cost of production, and this cost is further offset by the increased serviceable life of the glove.

The rubber removed from the hand and finger portions of the form while making the wrist portion, is salvaged with no loss of rubber, the naphtha alone being lost. It is to be noted that the glove herein described and claimed and shown in the drawing preferably is formed with the hand and finger portions curved to fit the natural bend of the wearers hand and finger posture, but it is not desired tolimit the invention to this or any other particular form of glove.

Although a preferred and practical means has been set forth whereby the wrist portion of the glove maybe built up and reinforced, it is not desired to be limited to the precise process herein described nor to the number of clippings set forth, but to embrace such modes of reinforcing the wrist as may be consistent with the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

I claim: I v g 1. The process of forming a rubber glove, consisting of intermittingly dipping a glove form into a fluid mixture of rubber and naphtha, timing to permit the mixture adhering to the form to dry between each dipping, removing the body portion of the glove from the form and repeating the dippings by immersing the form including the wrist portion.

2. The process of forming a seamless rubber glove comprising a wrist and body portion, consisting of first forming the wrist portion of said glove on a mould, and then forming the body of said glove by dipping it into a solution whereby the body and wrist portion are united to form a complete glove.

3. The method of manufacturing a rubber glove having a reinforced wrist portion, consisting of the successive clipping of a form into a mixture of rubber and naphtha to build up a glove, dipping. the finger and hand portions of said glove into a solution to dissolve said portions leaving the wrist portion intact upon said form, and then successively dipping said form, including the wrist portion, into said rubber and naphtha mixture to rebuild the finger and hand portions, said last named dipping resulting in a glove having a heavy wrist portion.

4. The method of manufacturing a rubber glove having a reinforced wrist portion, consisting of the building up of the glove on a form by successive clipping of the form in liquid rubber and drying, the removal of the finger and hand portions of the glove thus formed from the form, and subsequently building up of the glove by successively dipping of the form and remaining wrist portion in liquid rubber and drying and curing before removing the glove.

5. The method of manufacturing rubber composition articles of the type having portions thereof substantially thicker than the remaining portions, which comprises continuous building up of a deposit of rubber composition on a form by alternate immersion and withdrawal of said form from said rubber composition, drying the deposit at each withdrawal, removing the deposit from a portion of said form, repeating d the alternate immersion and withdrawal of said form from said rubber composition to again build up new deposit of rubber composition on said forms, and drying and vulcanizing.

6. The method of manufacturing rubber composition articles of the type having portions thereof substantially thicker than the remaining portions which comprises continuous building up of a deposit of rubber composition on a form by alternate immersion and withdrawal of said form from said rubber composition, removing the deposit from a portion of said form, repeating the alternate immersion and withdrawal of said form from said rubber composition to again build up new deposit of rubber composition on said form, and drying and vulcanizing.

7. The method of making rubber articles which comprises building up the article on a form by a continuous deposit of a rubber compositon, drying the deposit, removing the deposit from a portion of said form, and building up a deposit of rubber composition over the form including the deposit remaining thereon to produce an article having a localized thickened portion.

FRANK E. BARNS. 

